Indonesia COVID-19 Observatory

When workers’ livelihoods were adversely affected by the pandemic-induced economic downturn, many had sought additional sources of income in e-commerce, which serves as an inclusive landscape for entrepreneurs from various backgrounds. However, not all of them are thriving.

Using survey data from 15,238 respondents collected on one of Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platforms between December 21 and 25, 2020, we examined how female-owned businesses on e-marketplace platforms performed and how the government and platforms could help them survive and thrive during the pandemic and beyond.

While most schools across Indonesia remained closed for face-toface learning, the vast majority of students were engaged in distance learning and a small minority had dropped out.

Coverage of testing for COVID-19 slowly improved but remained much lower than in peer countries. 

Online sales have been more resilient than offline sales, though Bukalapak merchants with certain characteristics were harder hit than others.

Without the emergency social assistance for households, Covid-19 could push between 5.5 and 8 million Indonesians into poverty

Firms across the provinces surveyed and in almost all sectors surveyed were negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis.1 They were affected simultaneously by multiple channels.

With businesses closed and largescale mobility restrictions imposed after the Covid-19 outbreak, 24 percent of breadwinners – mostly wage workers and non-farm business owners – had stopped working by May 2020

Discussion on COVID-19 in social media spiked around the time large-scale social restrictions were introduced and common topics of conversation revolved around health care, food access, and job loss.